Psst! Got a tough exam in the morning? Here's an easy way to improve your grade: listen to study tapes while you're asleep. Really!

Scientists have found that hearing specific sounds during deep sleep can improve memory and recall. [...]

Scientists asked a group of students to look at 50 objects, including a cat and a kettle, which were all paired to a specific location on a computer screen.

They then asked the volunteers to lie down and as they slept played them a series of sounds related to half of the objects, including a miaow [sic] and a kettle boiling.

Tested later the students were better able to correctly place an object whose sounds that had heard with their locations.

"The research strongly suggests that we don't shut down our minds during deep sleep," said John Rudoy, from Northwestern University, in Chicago, who led the study. "Rather this is an important time for consolidating memories."

I've heard many people say this has worked for them and a relative who passed a math test by sleeping on his textbook. I think we all take in everything we hear we just need cues to psyche ourselves and get it out. Don't knock it. :p

This is at a much simpler level than the techniques propounded for many years - and as such it might actually work. Trouble is, it only works for very simple things the like of which you probably wouldn't have much trouble learning anyway.